A compact overview of the history of a central movement on the left, as well as a reflective introduction to its essential debates and philosophical and sociological foundations. The starting point of the considerations is not the situation in the countries of the Global South, but the perception of the so-called Third World and its projection onto the social conditions in this country. From the pronounced intellectual optimism of the 1960s and 1970s, through the life-philosophical theorems of the 1980s, to the dialogue- and consensus-oriented approaches of the past decade, the author traces the theoretical frameworks of a political movement that is both significant and contradictory, while questioning perspectives and new ways of thinking. The second revised and updated edition has been expanded to include a chapter on the theoretical foundations of the movement (Negri, Hardt, Guattari, etc.) against neoliberal globalization.